Huffines Elected Chairman of the UT System Board of Regents

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AUSTIN –The University of Texas System Board of Regents today (April 13) unanimously elected new officers at its board meeting held in Austin.

James R. Huffines[2] of Austin has been named the new chairman of the UT System Board of Regents and succeeds H. Scott Caven, Jr., of Houston, who served as chairman since late 2007 and whose six-year term on the board recently expired. Regent Colleen McHugh[3] of Corpus Christi and Regent Paul Foster[4] of El Paso were each named vice chairman of the Board.

Huffines was first appointed to a six-year term on The UT System Board of Regents by Gov. Rick Perry in February 2003 and reappointed for a consecutive term to expire on February 15, 2015. This is Huffines' second time to serve as chairman of the Board. He served as chairman of the Board from June 2004 until November 2007, when he was appointed vice chairman of the Board.

“I am deeply honored to have been elected to this position by my fellow regents and grateful to Governor Perry for my reappointment to the Board,” Huffines said. “I look forward to continuing to work with my fellow regents, Chancellor Cigarroa and his leadership team, and the campus presidents to promote excellence and advance the education, health care, research and service missions of what I believe to be one of the preeminent public university systems in the world.”

Established by the Texas Constitution in 1876, the Board of Regents is composed of nine members who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. Terms for Regents are scheduled for six years each and staggered so that three members' terms will usually expire on February 1 of odd-numbered years. In addition, the Governor appoints a Student Regent for a one-year term that expires on May 31 of each year.

The University of Texas System is one of the nation’s largest higher education systems, with nine academic campuses and six health institutions. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $11.5 billion (FY 2009) including $2.5 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. Student enrollment exceeded 195,000 in the 2008 academic year. The UT System confers more than one-third of the state's undergraduate degrees and educates nearly three-fourths of the state's healthcare professionals annually. With more than 84,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.